---
title: "Several Large Book Publishers Are Suing Amazon"
description: "Seven book publishers, including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, have filed a lawsuit against Amazon's audiobook company Audible."
date: "2019-08-27"
modified: "2019-08-27"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/large-book-publishers-suing-amazon"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "ai"
  - "Amazon"
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "audible"
  - "the digest"
---

# Several Large Book Publishers Are Suing Amazon

![Seven book publishers, including Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, have filed a lawsuit against Amazon's audiobook company Audible.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/large-book-publishers-suing-amazon.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Amazon/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Speech-to-Text

Seven book publishers, including giant players like Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, have filed a lawsuit against Amazon's audiobook company Audible.

The lawsuit alleges that Audible's new Captions feature — an AI-powered tool that transcribes spoken words into text so users can read along to their audiobooks — is "the kind of quintessential infringement that the Copyright Act directly forbids," according to [a suit](<https://www.docdroid.net/em69IaO/chronicle-books-v-audible.pdf>) filed in the Southern District of New York.

According to the suit, Audible did not acquire the rights to create a new version, through AI, of text they own the copyright to. In a statement [received by *The Verge*](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/23/20830057/amazon-audible-speech-to-text-feature-lawsuit-major-book-publishers>), Audible noted that its Captions feature "is not and was never intended to be a book."

## AI IP

The lawsuit could have much bigger implications for intellectual property that was created or transformed by machine learning.

Over the last month, the U.S. Authors Guild has been fighting more or less the same fight, alleging that its agreements with Audible do not allow the audiobook company the right to create text versions of audio books.

**READ MORE:** [Major book publishers sue Amazon’s Audible over new speech-to-text feature](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/23/20830057/amazon-audible-speech-to-text-feature-lawsuit-major-book-publishers>) \[*The Verge*\]

**More on Amazon:** *[Amazon: Those Bizarre Brand Ambassadors Are Real Employees](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-bizarre-brand-ambassadors-real-employees>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)